LeBroning fad shows James will never catch Jordan

Wednesday

Jan 15, 2014 at 4:26 PMJan 15, 2014 at 4:58 PM

LeBron James is probably the most talented basketball player of all-time, but he'll never be as good as Michael Jordan. Not in fact and not in perception. Any doubt of that has been erased by LeBroning becoming a national fad, where high school kids dramatically flop to the floor after the merest brush with another person.

Check out the video here of kids flopping for laughs. The funniest one is the bottom one, with LeBron flopping for fouls.

Here's another one, with LeBron flying back five feet after the merest brush. Such videos have gone viral. It was even a Today Show segment this morning.

LeBron James is so much stronger and taller than Jordan and Kobe Bryant. He can post up better than they ever could. And rebound better. He could play power forward as well as Karl Malone if he wanted.

LeBron James is also a better passer, averaging 6.9 assists for his career compared to 5.3 for Michael Jordan and 4.7 for Kobe Byrant.

He already has twice as many 3-pointers as Jordan (1,071 to 581).

And he's fast enough and versatile enough and good enough to absolutely smother MVP point guard Derrick Rose on defense in the playoffs. Sorry, but Michael Jordan couldn't guard Tim Hardaway in his prime. Scottie Pippen couldn't stop point guards either; Phil Jackson had to take him off 6-foot-7 Penny Hardaway after one game of the Bulls' loss to Orlando in the playoffs in the first year Jordan unretired.

But Michael Jordan (and even Kobe Byrant) had a will to win that LeBron James can never match.

Jordan was not a great shooter in college. He MADE himself a great shooter in the pros. He never became a great 3-point shooter, but he didn't have to. And he was smart enough not to take too many 3-point shots because he wasn't that great at it, with 1,778 attempts and a 32.7 percentage. (His good friend -- and my favorite player -- Charles Barkley, on the other hand, shot more than 2,000 career 3-pointers despite a 26.6 percent 3-point percentage).

All-time greats don't flop. Or at least they shouldn't. Flopping is for losers. It's trying to game the system by fooling the refs when you don't think you are good enough to win on your own.

Michael Jordan never doubted whether he was good enough to win on his own. Never. Nor did he ever feel he had to take shortcuts to win.

That's the difference between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. It's not the size of their body (6-6, 195 vs. 6-8, 240).

It's the size of their heart and the size of their will.

James' talent and unselfishness make him great. But Jordan's will was as great as his talent. And that makes him basketball's best ever without a doubt.